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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  5. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  6. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  7. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  8. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  15. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  24. The spa offers ________________ extensions.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. cue — a hint
  2. prune — to trim
  3. squash — to crush
  4. lash — to lash out
  5. lash — a whip stroke
  6. leaves — lets stay
  7. leaves — to go away
  8. squash — the sport
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. sharp — clever
  11. cold — an illness
  12. cue — for pool
  13. hand — help
  14. leaves — of a tree
  15. sharp — with an edge
  16. cold — not warm
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. prune — to trim
  22. hand — in cards
  23. cue — a signal
  24. lash — an eyelash

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com